Is this an enterprise or an expansion? Is it, perhaps, one in the same? I care little either way. Though, the parasites seem awfully interested in the distinction. I will give them slop to feast their analysts upon. --51.3 Seconds Post-Integration.
When Clark stumbled into his dormitory, he felt like he had when he returned from his misadventure with Theo -- dead tired, haggard, and filled with questions about why he let himself be talked into these crazy things.
On his bed, he didn't even have the energy to repel SIMP's lame joke. 'Lord of chaos.' Not that it was inaccurate. He had been employed for a short time and yet did have a chaotic time. A time which would see him terminated from his employment if his employer ever figured out his involvement with relic theft and church insurgents.
Barely able to keep his eyes open, he checked his schedule. He had a shift coming up in eight hours.
He slept.
Clark woke up with twenty minutes to spare. He quickly cleaned himself then sent a voice message to Hera: "Regarding your work detail offer. I am already in a party with Theo. We work from the early mornings to the early afternoons. If this is acceptable, then I will add you to our work detail. I will also send in the schedule change request."
'So... tired... still,' he mouthed at himself while standing in front of the mirror.
For a moment, he wondered if he should take today as a PTO day. He had the time as part of his newcomer's package. How nice it would be to get a whole day's sleep, then some R&R.
Nice as it would be, Clark dismissed the notion of taking a personal day. Gods knew he was entitled to one, but other than being tired, he was in working condition. He couldn't afford not to work. He had bills to pay.
The day was as normal as he could hope for. He and Theo advanced all the way from the forty-second floor to the forty-fifth. During this time laboring, they talked a lot of shet, and Theo would not budge on what it was he did during his own personal day, yesterday, but all that meant was it was a good opportunity for him to talk to him about Hera. "So, how would you feel if that religious woman joined our work detail?"
"Hera? Why? Did she ask?" Theo was stocking cans on a shelf in Center Store, same as him. Almost half of the department's staff said they couldn't come in due to illness, though Clark thought it was actually because of labor issues. Whispers from around the store talked of a strike.
"Not exactly. But she did mention if we ever needed the help, she would come running. I figured it might be good to have another member on our team. More the merrier, right?" Clark took a moment's rest as he waited for Theo's response.
"It's fine by me, I guess... would be nice to only be me and you. Guess that is not really realistic. More will make our jobs easier..."
If Clark could see himself, he would have seen a shade of red briefly cross over his face. He liked the fact that Theo wanted to be alone with him -- as a buddy. It made his excursion with Hera seem worthwhile after all. The horde of Noir Slimes notwithstanding. "I think it would be easier, yeah. Besides, she seems like a good person... unusual beliefs aside."
"Hey! Speak for yourself! I have religious views of my own, buddy! We're not all agonistic pagans like you Waste folk."
"That's not what I meant. I will have to tell you about the misadventure she and I recently had... it was a handful..."
Theo grinned widely. "Like the sort of misadventure, you and I had? Or like, 'oh, you had a scuffle before making up?'"
"Uh, like the sort you and I had--"
"Oh -- boy! Now I got to hear it! Invite that lady in! I bet she will help us have all kinds of wild sorties into this great unknown."
"She hasn't responded to my invitation yet, so don't get your hopes up."
"Hey! Don't tell me how or where to get my hopes up! My body has a way of disregarding what I hope anyway!" Theo's dirty jokes never failed to put a smile on his face.
As the day did, it ended too slowly. Just after they had clocked out, his body begging for rest, Hera returned his voice message with one of her own. It read, "Yes, Clark. That sounds delightful. I always thought that Theo boy was a good egg. If not too energetic and unpredictable. Qualities you share with him, and I, for that matter. Let me know once the schedule change has been solidified and I will appear on the next shift."
"Never say never, Theo. Hera just got back to me. Said she would be happy to join our detail."
"Yeah? Kickin'! I'm looking forward to having her."
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"I know. Want to hang out?" Clark wanted to ask Theo all day, despite his tiredness. "I have the next day off."
"I know. I have the day off, too. We share the same schedule, remember?" Theo giggled.
"Oh, yeah! Still getting used to it," he said, sharing in his friend's laughter.
"But, yeah, I do, bud. How about we get back to our respective dorms and clean up, rest, then we can get the hanging going in the evening? Have a good old sleep over. Unless you think you're too old and too Adultish to do such childish things!"
Clark stuck out his tongue in a cat-like way -- short, stubby, and quick. "As if!"
Clark hadn't done a sleep over since he was a little boy. He was seven. The boy was little Willy Andy-Anderson. They spent all night pitching a fit about how hard their parents worked them while eating puffed corn snacks they made themselves and drenched in butter.
...they also had to protect the farmhouse they were sleeping in from a pack of mutated centipede-wolves. It was a bit like a working vacation.
The point is, he remembered it as a fun evening. Which was how he wanted this time with Theo to go.
"Have you ever seen Reds?" Theo asked as he popped into the microwave a bag of something he called 'popcorn.'
"No. What is it? Wait! Are you talking about the color? Obviously, I've seen the color red, bro."
"I don't mean the colors, jeesh! I mean the movie -- Reds!"
"What's a movie?" Clark asked, truly knowing.
"You didn't have movies in the wastes? Seriously?" Theo looked at him like he had just said his mouth was an oaf.
"No...? What is a 'movie.'" he asked, still not comprehending what Theo was talking about.
"A movie is like a moving picture. Okay, you remember the screens throughout the store? The big TVs plastered to the walls? The moving pictures on those are like a movie. Except that a movie is FANCY and CINEMATIC with a great story and beautiful actors!"
"Oh! I understand. Like a moving picture book?"
"Exactly! Well, Reds is like that. Wanna watch it?"
Always up for something new, he assented. Together, they made their way to one of the employee-only recreation zones. There, they found an empty room in one of the small rooms with televisions the company called 'mini theatres.' Theo popped the movie into a device, and it began to play one of the TVs.
The movie was about two anti-merchant activists who found love while organizing against a large trading conglomerate. It had emotion, empathy, and history all rolled up in a neat, albeit long, package. Clark was actually surprised Augustford would allow such a movie antithetical to their very existence be vied by their workers; even for a cottonheaded sort of guy like he, Clark could tell the film was imbued with a powerful collectivist ethos.
"What did you think?" Theo asked, wide-eyed.
"I think it was bloody awesome!"
The night was much more fun than anything Clark had done in his life. Except, perhaps, family days at the local harvest festival. Theo introduced him to video games, more junk food than he knew even existed, and so much 'mature' topics, that he felt like he should pray to the Goddess of Chastity just to make up for the gossip.
Tired, ready for bed, despite the nap he took before coming over, Clark dozed off to sleep happily. "Thanks for... hanging... with me," he told Theo, nearly away to dreamland.
"Don't mention it," Theo yawned.
The two drifted off to sleep. His dreams were bland, gray, but happy, with bad memories of his childhood replaced with new thoughts, of how things would have been different if he had met Theo years earlier.
The next day was remarkable. Not because of anything which happened, but because Theo was voluntarily talking about work.
"Are you gearing up for the big sale?" Theo asked while changing out of his sleepwear and into day clothes. Clark tried not to stare.
"What sale? I haven't been keeping up."
"You should try harder then," Theo laughed. "Sales are important. Even I know that. They're marked on your System calander." Theo helped Clark find the 'calander' he spoke of and how to 'pin it' to his Main Menu. "There. Now you won't be out-of-the-loop. The next big sale is there. Fifty percent off packaged food of the Augustford brand. It's going to be a madhouse."
"You can say that again. Which is why we will have to prepare our tailbones if we want to get through it in one piece."
Clark groaned and comically collapsed into Theo's messy bed. "Why do you have to be such a bummer on our day off?"
"Bummer? How about saving your bacon?"
"Fine. How should we prepare? I've already bought five dandies each of the standard work fare. The ones that help with fatigue and area defense, that kind of stuff. What else could we possibly do?"
Theo gave him a curious look. "I don't actually know. Now that you mention it, I guess that is all we can do. That and meditate."
"You meditate?"
"Of course! That is the only way to train your magical energy. And you saw how I could use those dandies when we were in the dungeon interior. You meditate?"
"A bit. I didn't think it would increase my mana, though."
"Well, it won't. Not by much, but meditation is the foundation for increasing your mana. Let me teach you how to boost your meditation sessions so they are bigger and better than ever!" Theo winked at him, and they got to work.
Theo's instruction was surprisingly learned for a boy who seemed to exude the opposite of book smarts. They taught Clark how to use the foundations of meditation to bring into focus the basics of using mana. He called this approach 'Nenne.'
"I'm not too skilled, so don't think you're getting instruction from some wise sage. I'm only 'wise' when it comes to pulling my peter. Basically, though, you focus your meditation on mana generation. But you gotta focus on mana, its history, how it flows through you, all that stuff. I brought a couple of books if you want to try."
"Sure. I can read... badly, but I can read." Theo handed him a couple of books. Both books were thicker than he would've liked, but their dry titles -- Principles of Mana Generation and Foundations of Meditative Practice -- indicated the books would be well reading through as it hinted at their scholarly value. "How about we just chill until the sale? If reading and buying dandies is all we can do, and I have dandies already, and you have dandies already -- you do have them, right? -- then why bother getting upset about a sale we don't have any control over?"
"I have some, yeah. You're right. Let's chill. Have you ever had a fudge pop?"
Just as Theo was about to introduce him to the wonders of frozen fudge, he pulled an 'adulting' move and contacted the scheduling authority once more to add Hera to his and Theo's shared schedule. It didn't take any longer than a couple of minutes. Clark wrote what he felt in his mind -- 'I am the dungeon champion and demand this person, Hera, who is part of my work detail, share in Theo and I's schedule.' Then he hit the send key.
"Okay -- now I'm ready! Bring on this 'fudge pop!'"
At What Age Did You Get Your First Job?
